Salvaged Skirt

After my first child was born I was in need of some new clothes, as mine didn't fit. I wasn't willing, or able to go out and buy a new wardrobe full of clothes that I was hoping I would only wear for a limited time. My solution was making some new clothes that could be easily taken in as my waist line diminished.

One of my first and favorite post pregnancy creations was a pleated, green linen skirt in New Look Pattern 6566 (I don't think it is in print any more). The skirt was worn extensively, taken in several times, and worn some more. The skirt was finally retired when one of it's small holes turned into one giant rip, that was beyond repair.

This skirt was recently reincarnated as a pillow cover. It is sized for a standard 14" x 14" pillow form with a side Velcro closure (a closure type I am not planning on using in the future). The leafs were simply painted on with fabric paint. I would have liked to make another with the same fabric; however, the fabric was in such bad shape that while there was enough fabric for a second pillow, it could be used. My kids enjoyed playing with the extra fabric though.
You can see in the second picture that the area directly under the leaves is slightly lighter than the surrounding fabric. That is because I originally tried to bleach the pattern into the fabric, rather than painting it on. Needless to say the bleach didn't work. That is probably what I deserve for using a harmful chemical I probably shouldn't have had in my house in the first place. My only excuse is that it is a left over from my nesting, have to sanitize everything, phase from my last pregnancy, and I didn't want to waste it.